"Yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers; and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way; walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."-Isaiah xxx. 20, 21. WITH Outward teachers must our hearts not always think to stay; The power that wakens us must come, and shortly pass away. O happy soul, that in its depths its God can clearly see! Thus is The Teacher near, in Whom its perfect trust must be. It heareth The Eternal Word speak in the still heart's ground, "Turn thou to Me from all things, Child; so shall thy rest be found. "This is The Way alone; no other guidance dost thou need: "But go straight on, and follow close My Teaching, as I lead." 66 "I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee. . . . But he that putteth his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My Holy Mountain; and shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of My people."—Isaiah lvii. 12, 13, 14. THY works shall profit nothing:-would'st thou Canaan's Rest attain, Learn how, made void of all things, calm and patient to remain. Thus bared, flee thou for Refuge to The Father-Heart Divine, Till the sweet Land of Peace, God's Holy Mountain, shall be thine. Fair Mountain of God's Holiness-known only to His Eye; Still Country, where God's Peace doth bloom;-Land of Eternity! Where the long pent-up spirit finds free space and open path; And, in the Great Infinitude, full, boundless being hath. "Verily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, The Saviour."-Isaiah xlv. 15. O GOD, Thou Hidden One, in Whom we all have life Who comprehend that poverty, contempt, and woe, As marks of glory to Thy hidden ones appear? "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is: For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river; and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."Jer. xvii. 7, 8. ON outward things rely not ;-not on wisdom of thine own; Nor good intentions, comfort, light:-God be thy Strength alone! Trust Him with all thy being, and in fearless faith con fide: He standeth fast when all things fail: only in Him abide ! Thrice blessed soul that, leaving all, stands rooted fast in God; Like some fair tree that by the waters spreads her root abroad. In time of drought, and sorrow's heat, it dwells secure, serene : From God its life-juice drawing, thus its leaf rests fresh and green. "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the Good Way, and walk therein; and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."-Jer. vi. 16. How good is still that Ancient Way, the inner Christian life; In which, free from all semblances, and vain opinions' strife, The Patriarchs, dead to the world, in far-off days abode; Ever in faith, and love, and living intercourse with God! This, in these days' supineness, men "mysterious doctrine" call: They fear this Ancient Path, and will not ask for it at all. O well for him who sees this way, and doth his eye-lids close, And walks on trustingly therein, to the True Soul's Repose ! |